1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a novel improvement to the standard currently used rural mailbox which has been in use for many years. Mailboxes in use by rural homeowners as well as in use by residential area homeowners do not appear to have any device on the mailbox to show the mailbox owner whether mail has been placed inside the mailbox by the mail carrier. There has been, however, more than 100 patents issued during the last 100 years relating to such a device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most of the prior art including the present invention involves a signaling device which is actuated by the opening of a hinged door located at the front end of the mailbox. Most of the signaling devices which have been patented comprise some sort of signal flap mounted on the surface of the hinged door or on the end opposite to the hinged door. When the door is pulled open the flap is released and drops down by gravity thereby alerting the mailbox owner who is viewing the mailbox from a distance away that the mailbox door has been opened.
One reason why prior art patents have not enjoyed widespread use is that they all require some labor and skill to rework the existing mailbox. However, the proposed invention requires no rework of the existing standard rural mialbox. Not even the drilling of one hole is required since the signal device is mounted through an existing hole located along the lower edge of the left side of the mailbox. If even one hole is needed to be drilled for mounting of a signaling device it will be impractical for many thousands of mailbox owners who do not have a drill motor ot do not know how to use one or do not wish to hire someone to do the job. In addition, the mailbox may be located hundreds of feet away from an elecrical outlet required for operating a powered drill motor.
The patent by Ferris shows a signal device which will be relatively easy to install on an existing standard mailbox. However, the Ferris device has a flap which is attached to the surface of the hinged door by adhesive. Such an attachment by adhesive would not survive very long, especially in the changeable outdoor weather.
The Harmon device shows a signal arm mounted on the side of the mailbox and consists of three parts; a hook, a flag member and a mounting assembly. The present improvement simplifies the signal device by substituting a one piece plastic molded signal flag for the sheet metal flag member and hook elements. A further improvement over the Harmon device concerns the free end of the signal arm which is shown placed between the bent over edge of the door and the sidewall of the mailbox. Such placing of the signal arm to an existing standard rural mailbox would require considerable undesirable distortion of the bent over edge of the door in order to allow access for the signal arm free end since thousands of mailbox doors built to specifications of the United State Postal Servicce fit snugly allowing only about thirty thousands of an inch or less clearance between the bent over edge of the door and the sidewall of the mailbox. Furthermore, the mounting assembly presented in the Harmon patent would not allow the flag to rotate since the flag is shown secured to the collars which are said to be bolted to the side of the mailbox. The present improvement shows a spacer which passes through the flag member and is not secured to the flag member thereby allowing the flag to readily rotate by gravity even though the bolt or fastener is tigntened to the mailbox sidewall. In addition the Harmon patent states that the bolt which supports the mounting assembly is inserted through an opening drilled in a sidewall of the mailbox as compared to the present improvement which utilizes an existing hole.
The device by Davis which is shown mounted on the hinged door requires the mail carrier to actuate the signal flap. Paragraph 3.4 of the United States Postal Service, USPS-STD-7, states that doos other than the carrier service door shall not interfere with the normal servicing of the box by the carrier or require the carrier to perform any operation not normally used. It follows that this additional movement and thought required by the mail carrier to actuate the flap will probably not be approved by the United States Postal Service. The proposed invention will in no way require the mail carrier to actuate or reset the signaling device.
The signaling device should not interfere with the normal operation of the regular flag on the mailbox which is there to alert the mail carrier to pick up the mail. The proposed signal arm is therefore placed on the mailbox left side opposite to the right side which supports the regular flag. In addition the proposed signal arm when released to signaling position is located below the mailbox away from the regular flag which stands above the mailbox when signaling the mail carrier.
The United States Postal Servicce will not approve any flag other than the regular flag to be painted red, therefore, the proposed signal flag would be painted a high visibility flourescent color other than red so as to be easily observed from a distance.
A further improvement of this invention relates to the spacer 24 which is varied in diameter for the purpose of holding the signal arm a distance away from the side of the mailbox to help prevent snow from accumulating between the signal arm and the sidewall of the mailbox. In the event of a snowstorm the weight of the accumulated snow on the horizontal strip 21 of the signal arm will assist gravity in rotation of the signal arm to a vertical signaling position.